Tag: e-commerce

In the early days of online shopping, the big retail chains were slow to invest in an e-commerce channel because they thought it would cannibalize their store sales. Eventually they realized the Internet was not a threat, but an opportunity. Now retail chains account for a sizable share of total online sales.

Multichannel retailers (with retail chains or catalog/call centers) accounted for 56% of the Web sales generated by the Internet Retailer Top 500 Websites, and the magazine estimated that the sales of the 500 largest Websites represented 74% of total sales by online retailers in 2008.

Retailers covet multichannel shoppers because they spend more than single-channel shoppers.

Today, many retailers conduct business in multiple channelsâ€”brick-and-mortar stores, Websites, catalogs and call centersâ€”but few are adept at coordinating these channels.